Eye care center looks back, ahead

EAST ALTON — It was a week of reflection and looking ahead for Dr. Wen Chen and his staff.

The ophthalmologist, who operates Illinois Eye Care Institute at 200 W. Main St. in East Alton, recently celebrated 25 years in business on June 25. Days later, on July 1, Chen merged his private practice with the Quantum Vision Centers group.

Chen and office manager Marion Shaw opened the practice on South 9th Street in 1990. For 10 years, the two of them operated the business at that location.

The practice moved to its current West Main Street location in 2000, expanding to include an optical shop and adding staff. Currently, Shaw oversees four office staff members in addition to Chen.

Shaw said the practice has largely remained the personable, community practice it was when they started.

“We’ve not really changed much other than adding staff,” Shaw said. “We kind of still do things — until (July 1) — the old-fashioned way. I hate to see it go because it’s really personal this way, but the whole world is changing so we have to, too.”

The merger with Quantum Vision Centers was mainly driven by the federal government’s requirement of medical records to be electronic by 2015, Chen said. Under the Affordable Care Act, practices can lose a portion of their reimbursements if they don’t conform to electronic health records.

It’s not just Chen whose practice was faced with the tough decision. The Wall Street Journal in December cited a recent Physicians Foundation survey of approximately 20,000 U.S. doctors in which 35 percent described themselves as independent. That number was down from 49 percent in 2012 and 62 percent in 2008.

“It’s difficult for private practice to survive,” Chen said.

Despite the change in name, Shaw said little else about the patient experience will be different going forward.

“Same girls, same doctor, same building,” Shaw said. “We have bigger computers and we’re going to be changing how we process the exams. But for the patient, we’ve been trying to tell them, ‘Nothing’s really changing for you.’ Things aren’t going to change.”

That includes, at least for now, the doctor running the practice. Chen, 66, said the transition isn’t a precursor to his retirement.